Monday November 14, 2022
A US Rewards for Justice poster. SUPPLIED
Mogadishu (HOL) - Following a string of deadly strikes by al-Shabaab fighters, the United States announced that it was upping its reward for information about prominent Al-Shabaab leaders in Somalia to $10 million each.
The announcement was made on Monday by Deputy Chief of Mission Marc Dillard of the US Embassy in Nairobi and US Ambassador to Somalia Larry Andre'.
The US said it would pay up to $10 million for information leading to the identification of Al-Shabaab "emir" Ahmed Diriye, second-in-command Mahad Karate, and Jehad Mostafa, a US citizen who had various roles in the group, including the military instructor, bombmaker and head of media. The FBI believes Mostafa to be the highest-ranking Al-Shabaab fighter with US citizenship.
The US State Department stated that this was the first time a reward of up to $10 million was offered for information that would "lead to the disruption of the financial mechanisms" of the Al-Qaeda affiliate.
"These key leaders of Al-Shabaab are responsible for numerous terrorist attacks in Somalia, Kenya and neighbouring countries that have killed thousands of people," said a poster issued by the US with pictures of the three men.
Ambassador Andre said that the Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group remains a global terror threat.
According to UN human rights chief Volker Turk, more than 600 civilians have been killed in Al-Shabaab attacks this year alone. The deadliest attack came two weeks ago when the group dispatched two suicide bombers to a busy junction in Mogadishu, killing at least 121 people and injuring 333 others.
Al-Shabaab militants have increased their attacks in response to a government offensive pushing Al-Shabaab out of key villages and towns in central Somalia. The US Embassy described the blitz as the most successful in a decade.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud vowed to wage a "total war" against the militant group following a 30-hour siege on a Mogadishu hotel that killed at least 21 people but conceded that guns alone would not end the conflict.
The US designated Al-Shabaab as a terror organization in March 2008. Since then, the group has sought to overthrow Somalia's internationally-backed government in Mogadishu.
Last month, the US sanctioned over a dozen men suspected of being Al Shabaab financial facilitators and arms traffickers.| | Profile:
Ahmed Diriye, al-Shabaab’s emir since September 2014, was designated by the Department as an Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) on April 21, 2015 and by the UNSC’s Somalia Sanctions Committee on September 24, 2014. He was seen in a video meeting with al-Shabaab fighters prior to the January 2020 attack on Camp Simba in Manda Bay, Kenya, that killed one U.S. Army soldier and two U.S. contract personnel and wounded three additional U.S. personnel and one Kenyan soldier.
Mahad Karate was designated by the Department as an SDGT on April 21, 2015 and by the UNSC’s Somalia Sanctions Committee on February 26, 2021. Karate is al-Shabaab’s second or shadow deputy emir and continues to lead some al-Shabaab operations. Karate maintains some command responsibility over Amniyat, al-Shabaab’s intelligence and security wing, which oversees suicide attacks and assassinations in Somalia, Kenya, and other countries in the region, and provides logistics and support for al-Shabaab’s terrorist activities.
Jehad Mostafa is a U.S. citizen and former resident of California. Mostafa has served as a military instructor at al-Shabaab training camps, a leader of foreign fighters, a leader in al-Shabaab’s media wing, an intermediary between al-Shabaab and other terrorist organizations, and a leader in al-Shabaab’s use of explosives in terrorist attacks. In December 2019, he was indicted in federal court on charges of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, conspiring to provide material support to al-Shabaab, and providing material support to al-Shabaab. The FBI assesses Mostafa to be the highest-ranking terrorist with U.S. citizenship fighting overseas.
SOURCE: US Embassy in Kenya |